Recently in Personalized Gift Ideas Category

Happy New Year and thank you for your continued 
interest, and support, of Bluebird Gardens Quilts 
and Gifts. 

During the 14 years we've been in business, you have 
helped guide what we've made and offered, and I
personally appreciate hearing from each one of you!

In response to your requests, in 2012 we are making and 
offering more US-made baby quilts, such as 
Ninepatch Teddy Bears baby quilts, with patterns on both
sides including flannel.

We are also making more quilts with environmentally-friendly 
bamboo fill instead of cotton. If you haven't touched bamboo 
fill, it feels like cashmere and unlike cotton, is easily grown,
farmed and yes, it can also be easily washed. It costs a little
more than cotton but if more quilt manufacturers start using it, 
prices should come down.

Some of our new, bamboo-filled baby quilts are your 
personal favorite themes like Winnie the Pooh. (photo)

One of your favorite all-time  gifts is back, our 
quilter's goodies bags, now offered either as a 
quilted bag and or Hello Kitty bag.

It's been fun hearing from some of you who were 
counting on Santa getting your Missouri 
2012 Natural Events Calendars. 

Although Missouri Department of Conservation 
is sold out, we  still have some in stock.

Howard Furniture Care has added a wonderful 
new lemon-based furniture polish to their 
product line which doesn't leave a hazy build-up
 like other, spray products with a lemon scent. 
Still trying to  decide which one I like best, 
the orange oil or the new lemon oil!

If you're in mid-Missouri, stop by the new 11,000-square foot antique and art store
Route 66 Antiques and Art off I-44 exit 189. Antique primitives, art work and
our retail shop is there - plenty of space for vendors if you want to join us!
Call Martha Willy at 573-426-3300.

Poinsettias are a personal favorite but don't make it past the holidays. If you were
 given a Poinsettia, here are some tips on after-holiday care.

Thanks again for your support, emails and friendship, and here's to an exciting 2012!


 

 

Christmas is only a few days away and you still don't know what to get?

The following are five Christmas gift ideas that take very little but will keep on giving all year:

1. Give coupons outlining your time helping someone: an evening of babysitting; a promise to mow the lawn; take grandma on a picnic; give Dad a hand finishing that house remodeling project. Make one coupon for every gift, or give a week of doing something.

2. Like to cook? Put together dry ingredients to one of your signature dishes and give with a card saying you'll cook it when the recipient wants a home-cooked meal.

3. Have a lot of kids in the family? Be creative and recycle. Make a "go fish" card game out of family photo prints glued to an old deck of cards.

4. Have to take an ornament to an office party? Print a photo on cardboard; hole punch the top and add a ribbon. Make it a fun photo and get the party started!

5. No time to shop or getting to the Christmas party late? Give a coupon to take the special person shopping in after Christmas sales. Make a day of it with a breakfast or lunch.

Only you can give of yourself, and isn't that one of the gifts of this season?







Charlotte

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Over the year  we've made hundreds of custom quilts for school fundraisers and this year was no exception.

What made this fall's 2011 school auction season special was that I got to make a custom quilt and custom throw pillows for my brother, Dr. Stephen Ekker, who founded InSciEdOut, a wonderful science-based curriculum to help kids, and teachers, get excited and engaged learning math and science.

Now Stevie - well, Dr. Stevie to the rest of you, will be the first to say he didn't do this alone. It took a  great group of educators, scientists, teachers and parents  who quickly saw the vision and pitched in.

Two years ago, I was privileged to be in Rochester, Minnesota when they were having one of their summer camps on Mayo Clinic's campus. It was exciting to see kids, teachers, parents and scientists getting excited about what they were seeing, and learning.

As part of Lincoln Choice K-8's annual fundraising auction Saturday October 29, 2011 in Rochester, Minnesota, participants will have a chance to bid on three of my "have fish, will travel" custom InSciEdOut throw pillows - I think during the silent auction.

The custom throw pillows feature a storage pocket in the back, a handle on top and for a little bit of whimsy, a little fish tail off the printed InSciEdOut logo on the front.

The custom pillows are washable in cold water and have a removable pillow insert.

The silent auction starts at 11:30 am and closes at 12:30-1:20 pm.

According to the auction information, rooms will be closed one at a time so that you will have a chance to bid on as many items in different rooms as you would like.

The live auction will start at 2 pm and will feature a 92x102-inch, custom queen size photo quilt featuring some of InSciEdOut's adventures this past year.

Besides presenting at a National Science Fair in Washington, DC, students and InSciEdOut staff paid a visit to the White House where President Obama literally popped in while they were having cheeseburgers.

The custom quilt features InSciEdOut's logo embroidered in the center surrounded by favorite photos.

I also used 100% sustainable, renewable bamboo fill, which feels very much like cotton but is easier to harvest.

The custom InSciEdOut auction quilt is finished with machine quilting and can be easily washed in cold water.

Lincoln Choice K-8's fundraising auction will be held in the gym and items will be on display in the stage area.

To be able to bid, you'll need to register and get a bidding number at the "bank" located in the library at the front of Lincoln Choice K-8 School.

Good luck!

We all have them, gifts of jewelry we can't wear in their original form, or a sentimental piece that's impractical or broken.

Remember hearing Purple Martins eat a ton of mosquitoes so every garden needs a Purple Martin house?

Not so, according to the Purple Martin Conservation Association.

The whole story about Purple Martins being natural mosquito predators was promoted by Purple Martin house manufacturers.

The campaign worked so well, Purple Martins today are the only bird species who depend exclusively on man-made houses.

Purple Martins eat insects, but few to no mosquitoes. If they eat anything interesting, these birds feed their young insects, and small rocks and glass pieces to help them digest food.

After years of watching these birds in other yards, I bought a plastic purple martin house kit  last year I thought I could easily put together. I did but trust me, it takes two people!

I have a number of Missouri backyard birds visiting my garden through the year.  I usually spot Purple Martins sitting on utility lines and in Bluebird Gardens mid March, their big wing span and long, double pronged tail marking the arrival of north America's largest sparrow./

Like hummingbirds, Purple Martins winter over in Brazil and make their way back in early spring through Florida. Fun to track their way back to North America; some weather forecasters now even show Purple Martin migration map!

For many years, Fort Leonard Wood, our neighbor to the southwest as the Purple Martin flies, celebrated the arrival of these lovely purple birds with Purple Martin Day on March 14.

Whether you celebrate or not, consider getting a Purple Martin house, either for yourself or to give as a gift.

If you're handy with wood, consider making a Purple Martin house. Some of the most interesting Purple Martin houses I've seen have been lovingly handmade as gifts.

I've given birdhouses, including Purple Martin Houses, as housewarming gifts and birthday gifts, as well as been thrilled to receive them.

One of the more whimsical birdhouses I've seen are handmade license plate birdhouses, which recycle favorite license plates and give birds a nice roof.

We carry license plate birdhouses with, and without, a roof so you can easily install your own.

Pair a Purple Martin House, or a license plate birdhouse, with a book on Purple Martins for a gardening gift that will keep on giving all season.

Once Purple Martins decide they like the real estate, they will keep coming back.

After centuries of peacefully co-existing, Purple Martins have little fear of people and make charming, very interesting garden neighbors.







Charlotte

Bluebird Gardens: custom quilts, gifts, gardening
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There's a wonderful garden gift you can give anyone on your gift list for Father's Day, Mother's Day, as a housewarming gift, for almost any occasion - who has a garden and enjoys wildlife.

Courtesy of  National Wildlife Federation, you can get a garden "certified" as a "wildlife habit."

After answering a series of questions and paying $20, the official certificate is mailed designating your garden as a certified wildlife habitat.

National Wildlife Foundation Wildlife Certification  questions  focus on providing, food, water, cover and pest management without chemicals.

My certificate took 3 weeks to be issued.

Not sure of the answers?

Print off the questionnaire and provide it with a check for $20 so the gift recipient can answer the questionnaire themselves and send in for the certificate.

Just starting your garden?

Use the National Wildlife Federation guide to make sure you are providing wildlife basics.

I frankly was delighted when I got my National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Habitat certificate for Bluebird Gardens. There's something special about being reminded what you're doing is helping the environment.

I was also surprised to be only the 128,583rd certified wildlife habitat - there are a lot of people who enjoy nature the way I do.

If you want to be a little more formal with your certified wildlife habitat gift, have the certificate framed.

I found this frame at a resale store for $2, without glass.

I then took it to our local glass shop and had a plastic piece installed for $3.

I replaced an old mat with the yellow one so the wildlife lettering pops. Dark green or blue would work well, too.

I can personally attest getting my wildlife garden certified as a National Wildlife Federation wildlife habitat is a great garden gift idea for any garden and nature lover on your gift list.



Charlotte

Bluebird Gardens is delighted to exclusively now offer Melody Lea Lamb's wonderful original animal art in our custom baby quilts!

So you think you can't grow anything?

Whether you're looking for a housewarming gift, or just a gift for a garden, these annuals and perennials are easy to plant flowers that will keep on blooming long past the special occasion.

In Missouri and the US Midwest, easy to grow, annual flowers include marigolds, zinnias and cosmos.

My personal, all-time favorite annual flower is Vinca (photo).

Vinca seeds easily, blooms continuously, comes in a wide range of colors, and makes great cut flowers. It also winters over beautifully, and will pick up where it left off last fall as soon as I can get it back outside.

For someone who is starting a garden or welcoming a new family member, consider giving a perennial, which will come back every year.

Some of my favorite perennial flowers include Black-eyed Susans; Butterfly bush, miniature roses and Purple Coneflowers).

If I had to pick one, it would be Purple Coneflowers.

No, make that Black-eyed Susans;.

Actually, either one will work!

Both are Missouri wildflowers and once established, will bloom continuously for years with very little care. Butterflies will keep both company through the season.

Too soon to start planting outside? Give seeds or seedlings that can be planted outside later.

Pots of annuals can brighten a sunny window until the danger of frost is over.

 

 

Charlotte

Bluebird Gardens: custom quilts, gifts, gardening
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There's a lot in a name, especially if it's embroidered and added to a gift.

Even after 13 years of running a custom gift business, I'm periodically surprised at how adding a name to a quilt and gift can make a gift that much more special.

Making special personal gifts is the foundation of Bluebird Gardens.

The concept has evolved over the years to include personalized baby quilts, such as Applique ABCs Baby Quilt (left) and New Noah's Ark Baby Quilt (right)  including monogramming ready made and custom baby quilts, as well as making personal matching gift tags for easy inclusion in baby scrapbooks.

This spring, we've also seen an increase in Bluebird Gardens customer requests for our embroidered patches services, a reflection, one customer said, of the down economy.

Adding embroidered patches can be a great inexpensive way to personalize quilts.

After giving one of our personalized baby quilts as a baby shower gift last year,  Sarah said her family went "wild with the idea" of having the baby's name, birth date and other information on their baby quilts.

Sarah said now "the pressure's on"  to personalize all her future baby quilts!

No pressure, Sarah.

Our embroidered patches can be made in a variety of sizes, font styles and colors, and come with an embroidered stitched border to make it easier to applique, or sew them, on a quilt.

Embroidered patches can be sewn either on the front, or back.

Although it may be tempting to put embroidered patches on front,  consider the request of a 7-yr old customer who asked me to change the location of an embroidered patch  last year so he could pull up the quilt and look at his name on the back before he went to sleep at night.

Yes, it's ALL in the name...

Happy dreams, Harold!



Charlotte

Bluebird Gardens: custom quilts, gifts, gardening
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Every once in awhile, a Bluebird Gardens customer makes a mistake with their personalized embroidery order when they're making a personalized quilt into a personalized gift.

Shirley - we're not giving her last name to protect the guilty - ordered a personalized double wedding ring throw as a wedding anniversary gift early December.

We shipped the quilt to her and shortly after Christmas, got the following email:

"I've made a big mistake.

Didn't realize until my husband went up to put it up that the anniversary date is July 20, 1989 instead of July 30, 1989.

Can you make another one...My husband will never let me forget this mistake.

PS Do you have discounts for redo for dummies?"

Luckily for Shirley, once she shipped the quilt back to us we were able to take out the 3 and substitute a 2 so all she paid was a minimal embroidery fee and shipping.

We can't always easily fix a personalized embroidery mistake but, considering the grief Shirley was probably getting from her husband, we were glad we could!

Charlotte

Bluebird Gardens: custom quilts, gifts, gardening
Bluebird Gardens Quilts and Gifts Blog
Bluebird Gardens Quilts and Gifts on Facebook
Bluebird Gardens Etsy Shop
Bluebird Gardens Twitter
Gardening to Distraction on a MO Hill